Speaking Wednesday 12 April, Pope Francis focused on the need for missionary disciples to be ready to set out and to be open to exploring new paths as they seek to share the Gospel through word and deed.
The Fifth Plenary Council of Australia and the global Synod on Synodality were key discussion points for Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President and Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB and Pope Francis when they met in October.
“It’s all about recognising that we all have a part to play,” Archbishop Costelloe said, explaining that Pope Francis, throughout his pontificate, has been striving “to shift the Church’s culture to one of active engagement in this task of being the visible sign that Christ is with us.”
Secretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Legislative Texts, Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, said the updated document was based on four years of experience operating under the previous version, but the update also was needed to incorporate changes Pope Francis made in 2021 to the Code of Canon Law’s “Book VI: Penal Sanctions in the Church.”
During the five weeks of Lent, four short video messages (in addition to the Introduction from Archbishop Costelloe) speaking about What is Sacramentality, Why we Gather to celebrate Liturgy, Signs and Symbols in the Liturgy and What is Liturgy, were shown in our parish communities. The videos feature Fr Vincent Glynn, Sr Kerry Willison RSM and Mildred Rego.
The Holy Father explained that witnessing the “light of holiness” radiated by Christ is not a “magical moment” outside of time but is what gives the disciples “the strength to follow him to Jerusalem, to the cross.”
Lent is the time, Pope Francis has said, “to proclaim that God alone is Lord, to drop the pretence of being self-sufficient and the need to put ourselves at the centre of things, to be the top of the class, to think that by our own abilities we can succeed in life and transform the world around us.”
Catholic school students from across Australia have contributed to a video they hope will influence other young people to act and help eradicate forced labour from the production of chocolate, clothing and technology.
In launching a new program of Liturgical Formation and Renewal this week, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB says it is important the Perth Catholic community reflect on what it means to be a Christ-centred Church that is prayerful and Eucharistic.
Over the next four weeks, video messages highlighting an understanding of Sacramentality, Why we Gather to celebrate Liturgy, Signs and Symbols in the Liturgy and What is Liturgy, will be shown in our parish communities.